Recruitment, Retention and Motivation
of your Team
- Against a Background of change..
Louise Webber
Associate Director, Statistical Programming, i3 Statprobe
With thanks to
Gail Kniveton, Director, Data Services, i3 Pharma Resourcing
Jyothi Suresh, Senior Manager, Statistical Programming, i3 Statprobe, India
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Content
 A background of Change
– Of market place
– Within our companies
– Of roles
 What does this mean for recruitment
– Offshoring, Global resourcing and recruitment
– Skills needed
– How to find the right candidate, and attract them to your organisation
 Retention
– In general
– In emerging markets
– Managing our teams through change
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A Background of Change
 Looking for more cost effective research
– Use of lower cost resource
– Increased outsourcing (strategic alliances, functional service
providers)
– More efficient use of resource
• Global resourcing
• Global working
– Increased standardisation
• CDISC, company standards
– Change in type of work, skills
– Reorganisations, acquisitions and mergers, reduction or movement
of workforce
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Impact on recruitment?
Use of lower cost resource and increased outsourcing
 Shift to more work done overseas, and / or externally (for pharma)
 Increasingly EU and US Lead Programmers are project management,
leadership roles
 Importance of soft skills
– Communication
– Leadership
– Organisation
– Planning and tracking
 But…Still a technical role, still need technical skills too
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Impact on recruitment?
Global resourcing, Global working
 More flexible resourcing, increases efficiency
– More efficient use of resources reduces need globally
– Increased competition for roles (from a low baseline)
 Allows flexibility in where hiring can take place
– Can consider cost and availability of skills
 Increased importance of need for soft skills
– Virtual teams
– Working cross culture and with people who are not using their first
language
– Greater need for excellent communication, teamwork and leadership
skills
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Impact on recruitment?
Increased standardisation
 Specialist knowledge, for now
 Polarises technical skill set needed
Reduces level of technical skill needed – to use standard
reporting systems, but
Increased skill set to build and maintain them
 Increases efficiency, less labour intensive
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Impact on recruitment?
Reorganisations, acquisitions and mergers
 If not managed carefully
– Impact on retention of key staff to retain
– And on motivation and performance of those who do stay
 Also can have negative impact on corporate image
Managing successfully through change is business critical
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Impact on recruitment?
 More flexibility re location (global working and resourcing)
 But, need techies with excellent soft skills, not always easy to
find
 Also need to recruit in emerging markets which brings its own
challenges
 If candidates have the skill set, and mind set we need
competition for them is still fierce
Not getting any easier!
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Skills needed and how to find the right candidates
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Excellent communication skills
Excellent team work
Ability to work well in virtual, geographically dispersed teams
Cultural awareness, experience of working across regions (esp with AP)
Project management skills
 Flexible – key to retention in a changing environment, need
positive attitude to change
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Technical skills
Attention to detail
Ability to work under pressure
Starter/ Finisher
Organised
Logical thinking
Problem solving
Ability to simplify complex ideas to communicate to non-technical users
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Recruitment – identifying the right candidates
Tools and techniques
 Behavioural competency interviewing
– probing questions based on detailed real examples of past behaviour
 Personality profiles
 Technical tests
 Technical interviews
– Test applied not just text book knowledge
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Attracting candidates to your organisation
Will they apply?
 Not just money!!
 Profile of organisation
 Image / reputation of organisation
- No negative perceptions
- Nice place to work, respected, pay competitively
 Personal contacts
– Know people and they like working there / would recommend..
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Attracting candidates to your organisation
Will they accept?
 Role they’re looking for?
 Training and development opportunities
 Clear career paths, scope for progression
  Flexibility
 Was the interview a good experience?
Many factors which impact recruitment
also impact retention
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Emerging markets: recruitment
Same factors impact recruitment
But..
 Competition for candidates is more fierce
 Numbers of applicants are far higher
– Effective and efficient ways of screening are key
 Market data for salaries can change quickly
– Stay close to it, and be able to make changes rapidly
 Understand the market and support appropriately
– HR / recruitment, senior management
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Retention: Building on what attracted candidates
to your organisation
Covered some under recruitment:
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Training and development opportunities
Clear career paths, scope for progression
 Flexibility - especially working hours (not fixed),
location (home-working?)
Anything else?
 Challenging work
 Allow people sight of the overall goals, their contribution and role.
 Rewarding good performance is key: timely rewards, annual reviews
 Recognition, status and thanks are often as important as €£
 Strong leadership and management, trust
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Emerging markets: retention
Same factors impact retention…but..
 Be inclusive, Involvement of all levels, managers and team
members
– Leadership
– Global initiatives
– Participation in training, career development opportunities etc..
 Build personal relationships
 Encourage understanding of cultural differences, between
and within all regions
– ie EU vs US not just EU vs AP
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Managing through change
 TRUST
– If people do not trust the leaders in the organisation they will not stay
with you
 Communication!
– Lots, as much as possible, in different ways, and in all directions
– Surface rumours and address them.
 Communication!
– Openness, as far as possible
– Tell as much as you can as soon as you can.
– Explain reasons behind decisions
 Communication!
– Do not stop communicating, especially if times are hard, they will
assume the worst, and this will usually be worse than reality.
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Managing through change
And finally..
 Keep in mind that people will be looking for clues of what is to
come,
– They will find them (or what they think are clues) in the smallest details
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Managing through change – real example
 Senior manager coming to visit the office
– No agenda has been sent round, no reason
has been communicated
 Rumour starts
– They must be coming to sack people / close
the site..
 Real reason
– Feel it will reassure people if I visit them in
person!
 Lesson
– The truth is rarely worse than rumour!
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Summary
 Some shift in emphasis in EU roles
 Recruitment is still a challenge
– Those who have or who can develop skills needed are still in great
demand
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Change can bring new, different and exciting opportunities
Old key factors to recruitment and retention still apply
Strong change management is increasingly key to retention
Understand emerging markets,
Changes bring opportunities for those who are willing to embrace them
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Questions?
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